


Nobody Said It Was Easy (No One Ever Said It Would Be This Hard)

by MercurialComet



Series: 2017 Post-Something Advent [9]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Psychologists & Psychiatrists, Psychology, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, The Author Regrets Nothing, Unreliable Narrator, Y'all this ship will be slow, pov shifts a lot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-05
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2018-10-05 09:27:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10303451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MercurialComet/pseuds/MercurialComet
Summary: America’s newest psychology prodigy was kidnapped 3 years ago. During a raid on a Vishkar building, Symmetra and Lucio find the prodigy, chained to the ground in a basement. Vishkar politics, and Overwatch politics ensue.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> heres the rewrite: if you read the original, you can skim through this chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's the restart.
> 
> If you read the original, you can skim through this.

August 2082: Atlas News  
The World’s Newest Psychology Prodigy has Allegedly Disappeared.  
United States’ citizen Logan Fatin has disappeared after last Monday. There are no clues to where the 22 year old could’ve gone and multiple international efforts are looking desperately for him. If you have any information, please contact…

2083-2084: Subject is delusional. The subject isn’t able to remember basic part of his life, not even his own name. For lack of a better term, he’s been calling himself, “Psych”.   
He only seems to remember his studies in psychology, a couple of hobbies, and his observational skills have seemed to increase.  
His behaviour is not appeasing, with a great deal of confrontation. I suggest upping his dosage and activity a level or two.  
Right now, it seems like the experiment is working just fine. He won’t bother us anymore when we release him.  
Gentlemen, it seems we have been forced out of the building where Axon currently is. We can only hope no one finds him and he perishes early.

* * *

 

Lucio didn’t understand why, when going to do inventory on an abandoned Vishkar building, they were bringing along Symmetra, one of the snakes. Not only did he not want her within 100 kilometers of where he currently was, he didn’t want her to be in the group that was searching through the building. But he stayed quiet and allowed Soldier 76 to do his job delegating the two trios to different areas.

He was currently skating in front of D.Va and the snake, heading up to one of the higher floors while the “best friend trio” went down to the basement to start their search. He looked down one of the many hallways that contributed to the maze, the one that Symmetra suggested they look down first because, “If they followed company policy and placement procedure, this is where records would’ve been kept”.

He had to admit, it was all very organized.

So, making his way to the many file cabinets in the room D.Va just shot down, he pulled out a bunch of folders and, with the help of the other two, placed all the files in the containment unit. After about 30 minutes, they strapped the four units to the mech, and continued to go down the hallway when the heard the groan.

The girls immediately turned and ran towards the door, their curiosity propelling them through it, and the sight that awaited them elicited screams of terror. Lucio comes tumbling through the door and freezes on the spot, not listening to the frantic conversation between his trio and the other three on the mission, stuck looking at the scene before him.

There is a man shackled by all four limbs to the ground. His torn dress shirt, which looked to be really old, had dried blood on it, and the black jeans had obscene amounts of blood down the legs as well. There was a smell like no other, as if the man had been left in here for, nope Lucio wasn’t even going to think about how long this had been happening. It was so bad that he didn’t even realize that Symmetra had made a stretcher, Ana had been pumping the man full of her healing darts and sedating him, and Reinhardt had broken the chains and lifted him onto the stretcher.

Being jarred back into reality by the sight, and the sounds of his friends screaming, Lucio immediately shifted to "Rejuvenescência" to try and help the guy recuperate. Heading back to the transport, the man seemed to come back to consciousness and groaned, his hand reaching out for contact. Lucio took it, and the man squeezed so hard, he almost regretted not letting Reinhardt take it.

He was so focused on helping the man, he didn’t notice the men in Vishkar uniforms come running out of nowhere, guns blazing.

“Reinhardt! D.Va!” 76 growled, lifting up his pulse rifle. “Block enemy fire as best as you can. Ana and I will provide cover fire. Lucio and Symmetra, get to the transport.”

The two enemies looked at each other, and although Lucio was surprised with how quickly Symmetra responded by levitating the stretcher, the two started booking it towards the transport vehicle, Lucio speed boosting and shooting at the agents until they were safely inside the airship, Dr.Ziegler running the stretcher to her medbay while knock the guy out again.

As the good doctor left the main lounge area, the other four Overwatch agents came walking in, all immediately unstrapping the information from Hana’s mech and Reinhardt’s makeshift holster and sifting through it.

Symmetra, much to Lucio’s disappointment, was the best person to have in this situation with her knowledge of Vishkar file-labelling and organizing policies, was able to quickly rule out most of the folders they had snatched. It only took 30 minutes into their flight back to the base for Ana to read the file that they had been searching for.

“Operation Whitewash. Purpose: Stop Logan Fatin from ruining Vishkar’s public appearance. Priority Alpha 1.” On hearing the priority, Symmetra’s face blanched.

“Alpha 1? But they only leave Alpha 1 for the worst epidemics or revolts! They never use it on a singular person.” Lucio did a double take at that sentence, and Hana started reaching out to stop him before the argument could begin. She was too late.

“So what was my priority ranking?!”

The Indian woman thought for a second. “I believe it was Beta 2. I had nothing to do with our decisions regarding your actions and consequences.”

“Actions and consequences my ass-”

“I don’t see what your posterior has to do with this debate.”

Taking advantage of the pause after that statement, Reinhardt casually lifted up Lucio and carried him to the other side of the room.

76 took the file, looking at the date where the operation began. “Ana, when did the Atlas first mention Fatin’s disappearance?”

“2082. I believe it was late summer, early fall.”

The soldier nodded, his suspicions confirmed. “That lines up with the dates of this ‘operation’, although I’m more likely to call it a kidnapping.” The room was quiet for a few beats before Hana spoke up.

“You know what that means, right?”

“What my friend?” Reinhardt was interested.

“We currently have America’s missing prodigy in our sickbay.”

* * *

 

End result: Person found; believed to be a former hostage; in terrible physical condition. Mental condition unknown, but believed to be leaning towards unhealthy at the very least.

Hostage is believed to be Logan Fatin, the psychologist who disappeared after speaking out against Vishkar and their higher-ups tendencies. (His letters to Vishkar went viral after he “accidentally” leaked them, you know that right?-Hana)

(Why would he “accidentally” leak them? Also, stop hacking the mission files)

(Vishkar wasn’t budging, and was starting to make some serious threats if he didn’t stop. It kind of makes you wonder what was going on behind the scenes.)

* * *

 

Email to: c.clarke@v.tech.net and r.allen@v.tech.net

Subject: Whitewash Complications

Subject has been found and taken, but the GPS in the implant is not working.

His memory of Vishkar is currently unknown. What do we do next?


	2. Chapter 2

Angela Ziegler had seen many things as a doctor. This was bordering on the line of something new for her. Those were the thoughts that occupied as she stared down at her newest patient. She wondered where he came from, what he had done to be found like that on a simple intel mission.

She shook her head. The time to figure that out was later. Right now she needed to make sure her current charge lived through whatever happened to him. And right now, that meant leaving him alone for a bit to find out more information on where he was exactly.

* * *

 

Logan woke up in a hospital bed, still in his bloody clothes, exactly how he went into this mess, at least, that’s what he thinks. So the thought that Vishkar came back jolted him into immediate action, moving to rip out his IV before a hand landed above his. He jumped in fear and felt Axon take over.

He hopes that this is just another fever induced dream and not a Vishkar test as he watches the scene unfold like a bad out of body experience.

* * *

 

Angela was walking back, digesting the information she had written down, the now finalized mission notes with Hana’s attachments, and the Vishkar file.

She was finding that her stomach was now having trouble digesting her earlier breakfast.

The doctor knew how horrible some companies treated their employees health, especially psychological health, but for Vishkar to do this much to cover it up was very  _ alarming _ .

Shoving her thoughts aside as she entered the sickbay, she realized that Logan was attempting to pull out his IV.  Reaching over to stop him, she noticed a small blinking light from under the skin on the back of his neck, and the odd white irised eyes looking at her. She looked at her medicals files from the quick exam she had taken earlier. 

_ Eye color: Brown. _

Filing it in the back of her head, she went and treated the wounds on his legs, deciding to start a conversation with him. “How are you feeling?”

* * *

 

Humoring her couldn’t hurt. Logan would need some time to catch up with his surroundings when he felt like it. “A bit weird”. She nodded and made notes on the clipboard she picked up from her desk.

“My name is Angela Ziegler.” 

 

_ >No known information. Would you like to start a file? _

_ >Yes _

_ >File started: Angela Ziegler _

 

Axon shifted back to reality right before the doctor started speaking. ”I’ll be your doctor for your stay here in the sickbay. What is your name?” She seemed to be hinging on their answer, her shoulders hunched and her breathing slightly tenser. If they didn’t know any better, they would’ve thought she was ready to take flight.

“Axon.” She looked disappointed. Setting the clipboard down. “I’m the Vishkar tech implanted inside of Logan.” That rejuvenated her.

“Really?” She seemed very interested in that answer. “Can you explain how that works out?”

“It is a symbiotic relationship between Logan, an actual human being, and I, an embedded chip with AI software that had a small loophole I was able to exploit in order not to self-destruct like the other test subjects.”

“Other subjects?” Ziegler seemed curious. Axon noticed that the clipboard was still recording the conversation.

“It was our common knowledge that there were other subjects taken, but we didn’t know how many, or what their specialties were.”

“We?”

“Logan and I.” At this point, Axon winced as their arm twinged painfully.

The doctor threw the switch on her healing beam, relieving Logan’s body of the slight dull of pain racking through it. “Are you and Logan able to communicate?”

“No.” They lied.” I haven’t been activated yet.” After saying this, Axon became aware of Logan’s mental presence as he said,  _ “Nice half truth to an unknown organization asshole.” _

_ “Your whole truth to a known organization is why you're here currently.”  _ Axon evenly replied before shifting their attention to the doctor as she spoke again.

“What happens when you become activated?” she asked cautiously, her clipboard still discreetly recording the conversation. 

Axon frowned. “I don’t know, my memory was wiped every time after I was deactivated.”

“Does Logan know?”

Axon froze in thought.  _ “Do you know what I can do?” _  , they asked Logan timidly. Logan didn’t answer. “I have no clue if he does.”

Ziegler made a note on her clipboard, leaning forward. She whispered her next question. “Can Logan hear us now?”

The implant nodded. “He is also capable of taking over his body at any time. He’s just tired right now.”

“That’s… interesting.” She concluded, making a note on her clipboard. “Well Axon, I’ll have to thank you for this conversation, and I must leave to go take care of other patients.”

_ >Lie detected. _

* * *

 

Email to: g.melville@vtech.net

Subject: RE: Whitewash Complications

I believe that it’s time to fully reactivate the implant, maybe we’ll be able to hear of the effects. The experiment is not over yet, we’ve just had a slight complication. Welcome to the long game gentlemen.

* * *

 

She could have sworn that the symbiote’s eyes lit up a slight bit before he said, “Lie.” 

Dr.Ziegler made a note on her clipboard as she walked out nervously.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Setting up the scene.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm back! And I've finished fully editing what I had and even wrote extra, so the story will update at a better pace than it was.
> 
> So it'll actually update.
> 
> Also, to celebrate (and hide the fact that this chapter is so short) I'll post chapters 3 and 4 today.

Logan truly came back into reality being walked into a really, really big building.

He looked around and noticed a very large man in heavy armor holding quite a large hammer. There was also a fear-inducing rifle slung over another person’s shoulder, and that woman had an eye-patch. 

Yeah, Logan’s just going to follow along with the scary people for now.

_ “Good going Ax,” _ he thought as they walked inside, _ “couldn’t get us out of that infirmary without causing some suspicion.” _

_ “Listen Logan, this is not my fault.” _ Axon replied almost instantly, sounding slightly defensive. _ “Our abilities have been deactivated for the moment.” _

_ “You were able to call her out on lying.” _ Logan wasn’t completely sure that Axon was telling the truth.

_ “Let me rephrase that: Our  _ **_offensive and utility_ ** _ abilities have been deactivated for the moment. Also, pay attention-” _ the implant admonished,  _ “there’s currently a lot of people looking at us.” _

Logan focused on his surroundings again, and immediately wished that he was paying attention earlier.

There were multiple armed people. There was someone who was holding a huge hammer, a woman who looked like she could bench press five of him, and a floating robot.

However…

_ “Logan, do you feel like taking a break?” _  Bless Axon, always coming through.

_ “Yes please. As fast as possible.”  _ As he thought it, he felt Axon joining in his stream of consciousness, their presence helping to calm him down as he moved around, sharing all the responsibilities of his body.  _ “Let’s do this.” _

“Hi!” A super energetic woman seemed to teleport in front of them, already shaking their hand. “I'm Hana-”

“World renowned gamer?” Axon spoke for them, the two knowing it wasn't obvious that there were two personalities inside the one physical person in front of them.

_ >File created: Hana (“D.Va”) _

“Yeah!” She looked thrilled that she had some sort of connection. “That's Lucio over there-” She pointed at the man with dreadlocks who waved back, an infectious smile on his face. 

_ >File created: Lucio _

Axon waved back, both Logan and them feeling better with the small interaction.

“-he's one of the happier people. Lena-” Very skinny woman with a weird device strapped to her chest raised her thumbs up. “Hullo luv!”

_ >File created: Lena _

“-she's down for most things, a pretty good pilot.” She would’ve continued on, but a man wearing a cowboy hat and jingly spurs stepped in front of her.

“Careful there Hana,” the cowboy actually spoke with a southern drawl to the amusement of the two. “You're overcrowding him.”

“Them.” Axon spoke quickly, Logan raising a metaphysical eyebrow as he looked on. “I would like to use them for now.”

_ “Wait,”  _ Logan began cautiously,  _ “why did you never tell me you used they/them pronouns?” _

_ “That’s neither here nor there. We need to pay attention.” _

The man nodded. “I can respec’ that. I’m McCree-”

_ >File created: McCree _

“-What do you want me to call you righ’ now?”

“Pysch would be nice.” The implant kept on talking, acting oblivious to it’s host berating it.

_ “Goddamit Axon, it does matter, we need to trust each other to get away from Vishkar-” _

Axon allowed Lucio to guide them around the compound to meet everyone else,

Logan continuing to speak, ignoring the files popping up during the time frame. 

_ >File created: Hanzo _

_ >File created: Genji _

The AI only managed to quiet him down by saying,  _ “Let’s talk about this later.” _

As they were being introduced to the small crowd, neither of them brought up the files being made about everyone.

“You’re just gonna enjoy the stream later on!”

“What stream?” Hana looked as excited as a jackrabbit.

“You’ll see!” There was a feeling of foreshadowing as she said that.

* * *

 

Satya felt two things when she met Psych. The first was pride. She felt a sense of joy for multiple reasons: saving someone from dangerous conditions, making better hardlight mechanics, those hardlight mechanics actually  **working** and pleasing her highly. 

However, there were other things she was proud of: the fact that she got to see part of her work outside of Vishkar, the fact that she was involved in such a huge project for the betterment of humanity and she gets a unique view with a good vantage point for fresh data, that her hardlight programs implanted into Loga- Psych’s, she reminded herself- brain could see life outside of the lab.

And it was the second paragraph that brought along her second feeling: guilt. Guilt for the fact that she was complicit, that she had a hand in whatever happened to Psych. Guilt that she typed out a few lines of code for the programs that were torrented into their brain.

Satya Vaswanni was used to mulitasking. She never thought that she would have to multitask her feelings.

* * *

 

After she dropped off the symbiote, Angela was starting to dread the press conference that would finally reveal Overwatch to the rest of the world, especially considering that it was in a few short hours. She sighed as she went to her room to get ready for one of the wildest times of her current life.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Build-up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go... let's have fun.

Psych could’ve sworn they just teleported. They blink, they were talking to people, they blink, they were in their new room, they blink, and now they’re on Lucio’s back as the two are in the common room. Embarrassed, they immediately launched themselves off of the skater and landed on the arm of the couch, which seemed to be set up with a seat of honor in the center to Psych’s left.

Looking at the myriad of cameras, microphones, and wires in front of the gaming drum kit, they were impressed that it took this long to set this up, noticing the food that was placed on multiple tables in preparation for a long session.

* * *

 

Angela was tired of all of these questions, just wanting the reporters to leave so she could finish up the paperwork that she still needed to do.

“Doctor Ziegler-”  _ Not you again, you’ve already asked the same question 5 times.  _ “So, you’re saying that Overwatch has been revived, going against the Petras Act?”

She sighed.  _ Make it six. _ “Miss Perez, as I have already explained, after a long series of talks with the United Nations, the Petras Act has been overturned and Overwatch is on the radar of every member of the UN. We are being monitored to make sure that we follow international law.”

“Doctor Ziegler, I’m Cameron Jones with ABC, isn’t it true that you and Vishkar have had some sort of falling out over an event?”  _ That’s… oddly specific. _

“Mister Jones, things like that are confidential, and there are many things that neither we nor Vishkar would like to be put out into the open.”

Taking a look at her watch, she realized that the conference was nearly over. “I have time for one more question.” She looked out into the crowd, trying to find the one person who she wasn’t so tired of. She pointed at a random reporter in the middle of the throng. “The one with the enhancements in her clipboard.”

The reporter smiled. “Doctor Ziegler, are there any cases that Overwatch is currently taking? Cold cases, missing persons, any of those sort?”

Angela paused before she answered, remembering the doctor currently at one of the bases. “If it falls into our eye, and it follows international law, then we may do so. Right now I cannot disclose any information about our actions to the general public.”

After the pleasantries of ending a conference happened, Angela was sure to tell the cameras that Hana was currently streaming, and that she would generally be the one talking to the public and handling public relations.

* * *

 

While Psych was looking around, Hana casually launched herself across the couch, flipping into a comfortable sitting position next to, in her mind, the unknown variable, without knocking anything over.

“So Psych.” 

“Hi Hana,” they already looked bored, “What do you want?”

“What makes you think I want anything?” They looked at her as if she wanted to be roasted.

“The only other time I saw you do gymnastics, you launched yourself up 15 feet to get Satya to build you a new game controller.” Fuck, they saw that?

* * *

 

They didn’t see it, but just like in Logan’s doctorate cohort, word will always gets back to them. (In unrelated news, Lena can hold secrets like a bladder can hold water)

* * *

 

Hana decided to plow on. “A bunch of people in the stream want to talk to you, ask you questions, that sort of thing. Do you want to do it? I’ll make sure no uncomfortable questions get through.”

They smiled. “Thanks, but I’m good for right now, I’ll just stay here and look at chat.”

“Okay, what do you want me to block?” Hana started taking notes. “I’m already thinking because you don’t remember the serious private details of your life, stuff about your family, and of course where were you, how you were found, etc. Anything else?”

“No, I should be fine with that. I’ll let you know if anything changes.” The gamer nodded, immediately letting her godlike moderators Zenny and Bast know before turning to Lucio and nodding before turning to the camera and turning on the mics.

“Sup gamers! D.Va here, and like we’ve been doing for the past month, Lucio is going to 100% yet another song, this time on the drums.” Checking the screen showing the chat, it was obvious that the chat was freaking out over the new addition sitting next to the man of honor. “If you want to know about, or are here for, the newest addition to our little group, they’re just here. Say hi Psych!”

“ ‘Sup.” Psych waved, obviously slightly uncomfortable, but still wanting to be involved as the chat started asking questions..

“Anyway,” Hana was back in charge, “they’re not taking questions right now, so please don’t ask any, just talk a lot about the game or other things.” She paused, still looking at the chat devolve into more questions. “ Guys, really?”

Psych let out a low whistle. “They really want to talk to me, huh?” The chat exploded, a lot of people talking about how their voice seemed to be slightly roboticized, making jokes about the audio of the stream until Hana spoke. “The audio is fine guys, it’s just the camera isn’t used to a different vocal tone.” She paused, thinking that her lie was adequate enough as the chat moved on towards the game. “Alright Lucio, everyone is ready for you to set up. While you do that, let’s take a few moments to congratulate our great moderators.” Chat went wild over congratulating Zenyatta and Bastion for a couple seconds before the chat turned into a steady stream of questions, directed at all the people who were on camera.

“Are we doing a question and answer session?” Satya inquired, looking at her laptop at a pop-out version of the chat. “A lot of people are asking very pointed questions.” The whole group was quiet for a minute, and Hana knew what Satya had meant by pointed questions, a quick look at her phone confirming that Angela’s press conference had ended and she had referred to the stream in her conclusion.  

“Well, it looks like we can say it now: Welcome to the Overwatch Twitch Stream!” Hana smiled, gesturing for someone to hit the switch on the wall, releasing the streamers and confetti.

Psych’s eyes widen as they look around everywhere. “You guys really had this planned for a while.” Lucio nodded, starting up the song and starting to play the drums. 

“I guess I’ll answer a few questions.” Psych looked at the chat again, looking for a few of the easier ones. “Starting out easy: Who are you rooming with? This dork playing the drums here. I think he doesn’t snore.” Lena and Genji started laughing really hard, while Jesse looked flabbergasted. Hana raised her eyebrows, keeping an eye oon what was going to happen.

“How is it like over there? Pretty normal, the talking monkey is a bit of a change.” Where was Winston? Probably in some sort of meeting.

“How old are you? Let’s see, it’s 2082, so-”

“It’s 2084.”

“Thanks, you emo archer. 25, no 24, 25 in January.” Hana couldn’t believe what was happening between the visual of Lucio destroying his warm-up and the audio of the pure sass her new best friend was spouting.

“Who in the base are you most like in terms of fashion? Hmmm.” Psych was looking around, squaring everyone up. “Probably Satya, as I have a lot of Indian clothes because I’m proud of my heritage.”

The two looked up at each other and smiled Psych casually leaning back and watching Lucio complete the song with 98%.

“NINETY EIGHT PERCENT?! That’s disgraceful.” Hana is now officially adopting Psych as her older sibling.

The player looked over with a look of incredulity on his face. “It’s not like you're a god at this game. Besides I was distracted.”

“You’re right, I’m not. Now do better, my knight in shining armor.” The chat exploded at the scene while Hana wondered what was the distraction. ”Don’t let me down while I go get some more food. Oh Reinhardt!”

Lucio set down his controller and picked his roommate up. “You’re cute, yet annoying at times, you know that right?” He turned to the others. “One of you guys can play if you want to.”

“Ooh, me!” Lena was already in the spot of honor by the time the duo made it to the table with all the snacks, outside of any of the camera’s views.

* * *

 

Satya Vaswani had a logical conclusion for everything.

The Shimada’s dragons? Hard light augmentations in their tattoos, like the augmentations Sombra has to help her hacking skills.

Hana’s popularity with the world? Relatability to the average person plus higher than average hand-eye coordination.

* * *

 

Jack, Ana, and Winston were currently arguing over what to do with Dr. Fatin.

Ana was shocked that Jack suggested tossing out the patient. “We can’t do that Jack!”

“Why not? We have no proof that Vishkar didn’t do anything to allow them to destroy Overwatch from the inside out. Again.”

“We have no proof that they did.” Ana cut in. Winston sighed.

“Actually, we do have proof. Athena, pull up security footage from yesterday, camera 408, 13:14.” The table screen flickered to life, zooming in on Psych’s neck, showing the red light that was barely peeking through the skin.

“That is an implant,” Jack stated. “On Fatin’s medical records, there is no mention of any implant in their neck. That means Vishkar put it there.”

Ana looked intrigued now. “It doesn’t seem to be on, but is it now? Athena,” she commanded, pushing the blond out of the way, “show present view of cameras 400 through 410.” The screen split into sections, and all four leaders of Overwatch squinted to see if they could see any change.

“See, the lights still red.”

* * *

 

Why Vishkar retaliated against Fatin? Ruined reputation.

How Vishkar retaliated against Fatin?

* * *

 

“Well gentlemen, how do we work through this?” There were three men in a conference room, the stark white walls keeping their conversation private.

“Isn’t it obvious?” A white haired man spoke, fingers flying over the keys as he was typing. “We activate the implant. Fatin is currently on a live feed on the internet. We’ll be able to see the results.” He continued typing until one of his colleagues pulled the laptop away.

“Wait,” the youngest man of the group take a breath before he spoke. “We need to make sure that he’s still in the dark about a few things. If we activate the implant, the two will know all the information we’ve kept hidden from them so far.”

There was a silence while all three pondered their situation.

“Doctor Clark,”. The white haired man turned his head around to the youngest of the group. “Yes?”

“We can control the communication between the two subjects, right?” There was a smirk on his face. “I propose we make it so the two won’t be able to interact with each other.”

“Place the subject in Possession Protocol!” The two high five before the third returned the laptop, nodding at the two while he gave them orders. 

“Good thinking Allen. Clark, after you activate the implant in the correct protocol, I want you to try and track down the subject. Allen, I’ll need you to put together a team in order to retrieve him.” The two nodded afterwards, Clark sitting down and typing out lines of code while Allen pulled out some paper and started taking notes on what he would need.

As they worked, a secretary brought in a note for them and left. Opening it up and reading it, Allen handed it off to the third man, both of them smiling. Clark finished typing and turned the laptop off. “Implant activated. Why are you two smiling?”

* * *

 

“Our spy at Gilbratar has some very interesting information.”

 

* * *

 

That, Satya realized, she had no answer to.

* * *

 

All three leaders watched as the light blinked, then turned green.

“Well.” Jack growled, standing up, “it’s on now. Anyone else up for tossing them out?”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm back!
> 
> Also, I'm pretty busy, but also I have commissions if you want them!

Lucio didn’t understand Psych sometimes. How could they casually have a conversation with her, one of the people in the company that- no, he didn’t want to even think about it. 

Hearing the exchange threw his mind for a loop, but he was attentive enough to notice Psych’s eyes glass over.

“Hey.” He shifted them in his arms. “Are you okay?” 

No answer. They started convulsing, shaking slightly with a little bit of blood dripping out of their mouth.

“Hana!” The girl ran over, noticing the slight panic in his tone. She noticed the problem immediately.

“What’s wrong with Psych?”

“I don’t know. Would you help me get them back to our room?”

“Sure, let me just end the stream, put them on the couch.”

The two went and did their tasks, Hana’s charisma and Lucio’s strength working quickly to place their friend safely on the sofa and make sure no cameras were streaming while everyone else in the room besides Lena rushed to their aid.

* * *

Logan felt his mind rush, endorphins coming out of nowhere to meet his conscious. The world was fading away, Lucio’s voice faintly registering in his brain. 

_ “Axon?”  _ he called out in his mind, reaching out for the now-familiar presence of the implant. He didn’t get an answer.

* * *

The Overwatch control room was in chaos. Ana had sedated Winston and was currently holding back Jack while Angela was quickly sending out messages to the three agents closest to Logan: Lucio, Hana, and Lena, warning them to get Logan out of the base immediately before Jack got a hand on his pulse rifle.

* * *

Logan regained consciousness watching Lena play Rock Hero 4. Glancing at the screens next to the game, he noticed that the stream was off. Looking to his left, he started to notice the little things about the Brit.

_ >Her lean as she got more into the game, the way she held her drumsticks were slightly awkward-  _

_ “Logan you need to stop this.” Axon was speaking in his mind,   _

_ >Her tongue tended to stick out of her mouth on the right side if she was really concentrating on something, the speed of her fingers and drumming- _

_ “Logan you need to listen to me, I’ve been activated-” He’s not listening to them, why isn’t he listening? _

His head hurt, he wasn’t sure why this was happening

_ >He noticed she would space out for a couple of seconds, then her eyes would blink and she would smile, easily hitting the next sequence of notes like she had seen them before- _

_ “Axon?! Where are you?”  _ He’s scared, he’s never had to go through this alone, what’s going on-

He had to be going insane in his own mind.

He felt his shoulder being tapped, and turned to face a worried-looking Lucio, tasting blood in his mouth for some reason. “Hey, are you okay? You passed out on me earlier.” 

“Where’s Satya? I need her to get me something.” His headache got worse, he was barely speaking in a normal voice as some trains of thought kept on moving in the back of his head, commenting on the little nuances of everyone in the room.

* * *

Lucio grimaced, then called out for the Indian woman, who took one look at the scene and immediately went out the door of the lounge, tossing “I have technology that can help with this. Keep them here.” over her shoulder.

Such a snake, she probably did something to Psych to hurt them. But right now, Lucio had no other choice but to wait for her “help”, because he trusted their judgement, and the conversation the two had must have been important.

* * *

Satya didn’t know what to make of the conversation her and Fatin (Psych now, she reminded herself) had and the state they were in now.

“On the one hand,” she thought as she was walking away, “at least I know one thing now.”

* * *

**_“Why are you avoiding me?”_ **

Satya felt nauseous. She had been avoiding Fatin as best as she could so they didn’t try to attack her. Of course the Brazilian terrorist had to bring them to her.

She had even made them a gift to appease any anger and hostility towards her.

**_“I’ve been busy.”_ ** At last they were speaking Hindi. She appreciated that this conversation would be private.

They smirked. **_“Sending messages to Vishkar? It’s obvious that’s where your prosthetic is from.”_**

**_“It’s not a prosthetic, it’s a glove.”_ **

**_“To-may-toe, to-mah-toe.”_ **

_ Satya was confused. “ _ **_What does produce have to do with this?”_ **

**_“Nothing.”_ ** _ They never broke eye contact, the implant in them doing the calculations they were used to doing at faster speeds that they were never able to do before Vishkar got them.  _ **_“Your reaction however-”_ **

* * *

Satya grabbed the bracelets of the dresser and turned around, still replaying every word, every tone, every shift of body language. She shuddered as she realized she was tapping her shoe and humming throughout the entire conversation. Vishkar would be so upset that she forgot her social training. 

She turned and left the room.

* * *

**_“Listen.”_** She interrupted them, not wanting to be analysed. _“_ ** _Vishkar probably implanted you with some form of technology.”_** It was a lie of omission, she knew that Vishkar had implanted them with the technology. ** _“If you ever feel-”_** Sick? Dying? **_“- off, in my room, there are two bracelets. They should help.”_**

They smiled. It was a _ ,  _ “Thanks, but I’ll only use that as my very last resort”  _ smile.  _

Satya smiled back.

They continued making their way down the hallway, the hooligan following them on his skates. She was sure they still hated her.

Satya walked as fast as she could back to the lounge.

* * *

Ana, holding back the commander was shoved aside, and the soldier was sprinting down the hallway. Groaning, she ran out the door, spotted the crazed man, and ran quickly to catch up to the action.

* * *

Hana didn’t know how war zones were created, even though she had fought in quite a couple of them in her mekas. If it apparently took one old, white-haired American male to storm into a room and launch himself at a biracial guy with the intent to seriously injure right as she checked the message from the neutral Doctor Ziegler celebrating the success of the conference, she realized it was no wonder there were a bunch of wars to begin with.

But true to the Great World Scuffle of 2019, the moment America decided to implode on itself, the rest of the world stepped in. Genji and Hanzo stepped in front of the irate soldier before getting thrown aside, Mei aimed her ice blaster before he just dodged it. Zarya tried to throw a punch before the old man’s reflexes quickly caught her hand at the risk.

Lucio finally seemed to wake up, lifting Psych onto his back and skating out one of the many doors of the lounge room. 

* * *

Lucio was moving quickly, slightly worried that his passenger would fall off and, thinking about the mood of the angry commander behind them, probably be murdered. He moved quicker, remembering the amount of times he had been in this situation, helping someone else run from danger as he kept on zooming through the hallways, now focused on getting to Symmetra to help Psych, and to their room to get some bags packed to leave.

* * *

Logan was bouncing on his new saviours back as he glanced behind him to see the soldier bounding down the hall, gun in hand, aiming while he was sprinting.

_ >His gait is slightly longer than average for his height, he aims with his right eye, but moves his right arm.  _

Two pulses of light blew beside the two runners as they turned another corner before Satya appeared at the end of the hallway, the Vishkar agent holding up the bracelets while Logan grabbed them.

And in grabbing them, he fell off and landed on the floor right as Soldier 76 turned the corner.

* * *

Lucio made his augmentations so he would be able to stop on a dime. Thank god they actually worked, he thought as he turned around to head off the danger. He was surprised that Symmetra’s shield appeared in front of them, blocking off the assault that the pulse rifle was currently throwing at it.

“Go. Take care of them.”

He nodded, and reaching out to Psych, he realized that the psychologist was just staring at the soldier while mumbling under their breath.

Picking them up bridal style, as the audio-medic sped away to their room, he asked, “Hey, are you alright?”

The American-Indian’s eyes snapped to meet Lucio’s and he had the strangest feeling he was being studied.

“My head,” his friend mumbled. “Hurts.”

Taking a break to stop, Lucio took the bracelets from Psych’s hand, activated them, and slipped them onto the wrists of his friend. 

* * *

Logan had a sigh of relief when the bracelets were working and the pounding in his head stopped, but the monotony of the voice in the back of his head still picking out the little details of people was still there.

_ >Lucio's dreads are 3 shades away from neon green. _

While he was being picked up again, a random thought: “Projection Plans in Place. Ready to launch.”

Lucio slowed down. “What are projection plans?” Great, his mental breakdown was out in the open now.

“That's a good question. Hold on while I try to get an answer.” Logan’s mind raced as he tried to grab any helpful information out of the now known Vishkar implant.

_ “Axon? Are you there?” _

_ >Weapon activated. _

Well shit. Hard light shot out of the bracelets and formed a slingshot with many flickering dots floating around his left hand where he held the handle of the slingshot. Grabbing one of them and placing it in the small pouch, he aimed at a small soda can littering one of the hallways and fired.

_ Ping _

* * *

Lucio jumped, accidentally sending Logan back to the ground again. “Sorry. You scared me.”

“I didn't know I could do that.” He pointed at the door. “The door’s right there by the way. I think I'll be fine out here while you get whatever you need.”

Lucio took the hint that he wanted to be alone for a bit and entered the room to pack a couple bags and grab some money and fake passports. Moving quickly, he picked up his actual cell phone and packed two duffel bags, one for him and one for Psych, hoping that the clothes would at least fit even with the small height difference. 

Knocking over his roommate’s pillow, he noticed a mission file underneath it, and looking closer, he realized it was the mission file that was when they found Psych. After tossing the pros and cons around in his head, he picked up the folder and put it in his bag.

Grabbing and holstering his sonic amplifier and heading back outside, he slung the two duffels over his shoulder and tapped the psychologist on the shoulder to let them know that he was back. “I’m gonna have to carry you bridal style, is that okay?”

“Anything to get out of here.” They were still looking at the many dots of light circling their hand as Lucio lifted them up and started skating towards the exit.


End file.
